334 Mr. R. Phiixipps,


later date, as the bunch of elder twigs grew and partially-

sheltered and hid the nest from the west side, the aperture was

shifted back to its original position, where eventually it was

entirely concealed by leaves, the birds having to approach the nest

from the south and work their way round the side in order to gain

the aperture : both on nest together a good deal : a few feathers

carried ; 24th — Nest seemed finished : it was on the afternoon of

this day, during a heavy storm, noticing that the birds had taken

shelter out of sight round a corner of the house, I fixed up two

little boards above the nest, which threw off much of the rain.

The birds would not return until after noon of the following day ;

but without some protection so exposed a nest could not have

withstood the constant downpours. Soon afterwards, the birds

themselves greatly strengthened the roof, not only with grasses,,

but especially by working in quite a quantity of feathers, giving

the roof a curious appearance ; 27th — Both busy, male carrying

feathers and fine grass ; 28th — Touching up nest, and especially

attending to roof, and completing ' eye-brow' over aperture.


I feel that, before I proceed, I ought to write a little more

particularly about the general structure and appearance of this

nest. There was only wheat, no grass, growing in the outer

aviary, and the stalks were now long and unwieldly. It was

deeply rooted, so I assisted by cutting and uprooting a good

deal. To get at the actual nest, the birds had to approach from

the side, and to carry over a dead branch or two on one side and

a little lower down. The long wheat-stalks trailed over this

branch, and formed altogether, at any rate to the casual observer,

something which had an appearance not far removed from an

untidy collection of rubbish, measuring, within a fraction of an

inch, two feet from apex to tip of lowest straggler.


Here we have a case of an experienced and capable

builder, who only a few weeks previously had built such a proper

right-and-tight nest as No. 3 already referred to, putting together

this shapeless affair, reminding one of nothing so much as a lot

of drift caught in the branches of a willow overhanging a stream

which has recently subsided after a spate, for of course the green

wheat-stalks withered and externally soon became bleached. It

was the case of a bird, ignoring personal experiences and the



